Embrace the Places Where People "Get" You
UMD offers more than 800 clubs—from competitive and academic to identity-based and social—to support students’ myriad interests. Jolicia Taylor says she has benefited from being part of groups where she feels deeply connected and understood. On campus, she is part of the Black Engineers Society, Women in Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education’s Sister-to-Sister program, and the Society of Women Engineers.
Research published in the journal Science Advances has found that a sense of belonging in college is correlated with positive post-college outcomes including career satisfaction, community involvement, and leadership.
Ava Monroe ’27 stands in front of Easton Hall, home to the Flexus and Virtus living-learning communities. (Photo by: Maximilian Franz)
Good Neighbors
Flexus and Virtus, popular living-learning communities for women and men, are helping build small, supportive communities within the larger engineering school.
Ava Monroe ’27 says the opportunity to be a part of the Flexus living-learning community attracted them to Maryland Engineering initially, and it’s a big part of the reason they thrive now as a Terp.
“Joining Flexus has been the most fulfilling part of my college career so far,” says Monroe. “It’s brought me closer to so many other engineers and given me so many incredible friendships—and living together makes the late-night study sessions so much easier.”
Monroe expects other benefits as well. The network of Flexus and Virtus alums is particularly strong; their roommate recently got her first engineering internship through a Flexus connection: “Alums are all incredibly supportive, and it’s a group I’ll be proud to join.”
Hard Work Can Almost Seem Like Play When You're on the Same Wavelength
Trevor Moore acknowledges that at some points during the year, UMD Loop consumes almost all of his free time—and also that he wouldn’t change it for the world. “It’s so exciting to get into the lab and do work with people who have the same kind of enthusiasm that you do,” he says.
“When you’ve got 20 people in the lab all working together, all discovering what it means to be a real-world engineer? The energy is just phenomenal.”
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